I agree with Ron. Our local EAA Chapter, in its December meeting, was faced with the decision on whether to disband the chapter or to trudge along as best we can ? we?re down to only 4 active members (from a high of 30 +) when the chapter first started up, some 15 years ago). One of the members is 90 yrs old and the other three are 65-72. We?ve had some recent help from neighbors and friends when putting on our usual 6 breakfasts (May thru Oct.) per year at the airport. We?re thankful for that, but it?s become a real chore with pressure on just a few guys. And this was the worst year for breakfast attendance too. Our average has been around 150 ? 200. This year it was about 1/2 that, dropping our income by 72% which mostly have been used for scholarships . I'm wondering how many other chapters are experiencing this dilemma? In our area it could be argued that the onset of personal electronic gadgets (smart phones, tablets, etc.), the economy, insurance costs, and fuel prices are some of the factors that seem to be shifting at least the recreational interests away from G.A. When have we seen youngsters building an airplane model, except for the 5 minute snap-together kind? We have one non-member in our area building an RV-6A - the extent of our building activity.
At this point we've decided to continue with our breakfasts, cutting the number of events by one-half. Hopefully we can come up with some ideas to attract some young people to keep things going. One Wisconsin chapter holds an occasional "movie" night, providing free popcorn and an aviation related film. Any ideas or suggestions (that really work) from other EAA chapters out there in "KR land" certainly are welcome. We sometimes forget that we can borrow movies and other material from the EAA library. It also may have some videos available to offer suggestions to chapter leaders to help generate more interest. Ed Janssen Hi Paul, as a Past President of EAA32 in St. Charles MO, you get out of an EAA Chapter what YOU put into it. Things aren't fun; change it!! Volunteer to put on a program.. Bring in parts from your project for "show and tell".. Most members "want to be asked" to do something rather than standing up and volunteering.. Most Chapters have a lot of experience hiding in their membership roster; just takes a little hunting to find out who they are and how to get them more involved.. Ron W ________________________________
